diff --git a/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c b/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c
index ea73a33e0f..fc6d4617bd 100644
--- a/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c
@@ -1767,6 +1767,7 @@ virNWFilterDefParseXML(xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt) {
     return ret;
 
  cleanup:
+    virNWFilterDefFree(ret);
     VIR_FREE(chain);
     VIR_FREE(uuid);
     return NULL;